Comments on: Who Owned Your Magic Sword Before You Did?

By: DM Devon Wilson

DM Devon Wilson — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 01:42:51 +0000

My party members and I are big fans of a fictional character known as Hattori Hanzo.. in one of Hanzo’s many incarnations he was an amazing swordsmith.. Katana’s to be exact.. My party has found 3 so far, one of which has an unknown insignia imprinted on it, another has the name K Inik carved into it. The “New Owner” has yet to find out who this is.. and the third and final one is completely un-used and awaiting a tale to be imprinted onto it..
I re-call something.. i don’t know if im stealing this idea from something.. but weapons should be capable of being made magical by a PC by simply questing and the enchantments relate specifically to their accoplishments.

By: No New Magic Items — Dungeon's Master

No New Magic Items — Dungeon's Master — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 14:32:30 +0000

[...] brings up the issue of ownership and legacy. Knowing the item’s history and who owned it before you will matter. Ownership over items believed to be lost may be disputed. Descendants or fellow [...]

By: Make Magical Item Identification Harder — Dungeon's Master

Make Magical Item Identification Harder — Dungeon's Master — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 13:31:36 +0000

[...] Who Owned Your Magic Sword Before You Did? [...]

By: Greatest Hits 2010: Who Owned Your Magic Sword Before You Did? — Dungeon's Master

Tue, 21 Dec 2010 14:04:30 +0000

[...] From April 26, 2010, Dungeon’s Master once again presents: Who Owned Your Magic Sword Before You Did? [...]

By: Ameron

Ameron — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 11:49:17 +0000

@Brandon We wrote a skill challenge called Crafting Items. I'd suggest you use this as your starting point and go from there. Hope that helps.

By: Brandon

Brandon — Sun, 12 Sep 2010 19:04:54 +0000

trying to create a magic sword. Any ideas?????

By: Ravenous Role Playing » Blog Archive » Sunday Six: 2010-05-02

Ravenous Role Playing » Blog Archive » Sunday Six: 2010-05-02 — Sun, 02 May 2010 18:30:45 +0000

[...] Who Owned Your Magic Sword Before You Did? This post is a great one! In my own RPG that I’ve created there is no such thing as a “long sword +1.” Yes, there are magical weapons, but they are all unique unto themselves and act almost like characters do, even if they’re not intelligent, per se. This post really brought home to me the fact that someone else most likely owned/used/cherished the item before the player’s came along, slaughtered the monster and took the loot. This is a great chance for some excellent role playing. [...]

By: Dungeon Newbie

Dungeon Newbie — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 08:44:41 +0000

How about this: The players, upon inspecting their newly found +5 Holy Hammer, realize that it belongs to the great Paladin of Durlanmoore. When they enter the town, they see his descendent/ancestor coming towards them. They have 3 options: Return the sword, try to keep it or disguise the shop(like surfbored said)This could lead to battle opportunities or more!

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By: surfbored

surfbored — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 04:37:57 +0000

I can just see it now…

Hey, I recognize the cutlass that man’s carrying… he must be the Dread Pirate Roberts!

Of course a PC could just take a magic item to a shop and have it “reworked” to remove the items that make it unique looking; or add to it, like covering up a poorly chosen tattoo.

I really like this idea as a one-off idea though. Very clever!

By: Ameron

Ameron — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 02:10:33 +0000

@Arcade
I agree that few players would just give up any magic treasures without some kind of compensation. Your ideas for how to work the item’s historical significance into the adventure are great. I particularly like your suggestion to compensate them with a favour.

@Swordgleam
Springing a claim of ownership on the PCs without warning is a mean trick from the DM. I like your suggestion to provide set-up earlier in the game. That way when it happens that players have that “oh yeah” moment. In any circumstance where a PC is asked (or forced) to give up an item because of someone else’s claim on it, the DM should find alternative ways to compensate the PC. The better the role-playing the better the reward.

@Questing GM
This situation is perfect for a one-shot “test” scenario. Depending on the players reactions it can be used as a measuring stick to see if this is something worth exploring again later in the campaign.

@Jeremy
I’m with you 100%. My intent as the DM would not be to “hurt” the PC by stealing their shinny toy. I’d use it as a way to force the players to make tough choices. As mentioned above, I’d probably hint that someone was looking for the item or was willing to pay for its return. Springing this on an unsuspecting PC and then forcing them to give it up is just wrong. As a player I’d have a fit if my DM ever pulled a stunt like that without any context or foreshadowing.

@chrishillman
I think the commonly accepted D&D mentality is that everything is finder’s keepers. If everyone knows and understands this, then any claim of previous ownership is irrelevant.

But what happens when a PC is disarmed of his favourite magic sword during a fight and then has to flee (a RARE scenario, I’ll grant you). When the party returns they find that another group of adventurers has cleaned up their mess and claimed the magic sword. They assumed that it was just part of the loot. Does your PC have any claim on that item? Again, not a common scenario, but still plausible.

@xerosided
I think your take on the tiers of magic are exactly what Wizards had in mind. The Eberron setting (probably more than any other) has the built in back story for why these things exist and why there are so many low-level items.

@everyone
For more great discussion, check out the string of comments on Reddit. Wile you’re there, feel free to give our article a nudge up.